The most wonderful gift
by imly
Summary: Sometimes, a little is enough for your life to change. A few words from someone close you may remember forever...


**The most wonderful gift**

Behind a big window, lightweight white snowflakes were dancing in a sort of odd, but magical rhythm and then were quietly settling on the ground. It started snowing early in the morning and from what the forecast claimed, it seemed that this year, the Christmas could truly be white.

Elena sighed, turned away from the window and resignedly sank into a comfortable chair in the corner of the room.

Now, all that was left for her to do, was to wait.

She lightly smiled for herself as she remembered opening the door in the morning with disbelief in her eyes and ever so softly walking out on the porch of her flat, reaching her palm in front of her, trying to catch one of those snowflakes.

She turned her head and glared at Meg, who stood leaning against a corner of a shelf with folders and waited for her third expreso in rank to be ready.

"Did you try calling them again? To ask where they are? They said they're on the way over an hour ago," she asked.

Megan almost rolled her eyes over her boss's incomprehensible obsession, but rather did not give anything off. Darned monsters, she thought. If it were up to her, she could have done this without them, because the whole arranged scene would be really beautiful nonetheless. Actually, maybe the most beautiful she has ever seen. However, the way it was would not be enough, it just couldn't be without them. Meg worked in the shopping mall from the very beginning, so she knew that in the past two years, their Christmas events were the most attended ones in their short history so far. And even though she didn't want to, she had to admit that the biggest credit goes, in fact, to Elena.

"Yes, they said that they will arrive in the town in a while. They got held off by the slippery ice on the road, had to drive quite slowly," she answered and dragged the coffee cup closer to her.

Again, Elena started to nervously walk around the office. Everything was prepared, except they still weren't there. In her head, she was going through her other options, but more or less she knew that in this moment, her chances of getting the same sized ones and in time are pretty much nonexistent. Maybe it will be best to ensure them from two different companies next year instead… Well, in the worst case, she could also send someone to the second floor, to the toy store, but she would have to settle for smaller ones. And that she did not want to do.

But there are still two hours left until the opening. Places are all set for them. Maybe, they'll make it…

She has to believe it.

X

The town of Mystic Falls was not necessarily big, but it was big enough for the investors from GS Corporation to decide to build one of their small, but renowned shopping malls here exactly 6 years ago. After almost a year of negotiations and dealing with the town's representatives, they eventually changed their plans a little and instead of building only a shopping mall, they have decided to add a smaller entertainment part with a cinema and outside park and made a deal of mutually beneficial cooperation with the town.

The change in their usual strategy ended up being right because as the time passed, people from broad surrounding started moving into Mystic Falls, from which profited not only GSC but the town itself.

For Elena, Mystic Falls was a matter of heart. She was born there, grew up there, the best and worst moments of her life happened to her there - she lost her grandma when she was 10 years old, with whom she had a very close relationship, and then, in a sad car accident 8 years later, she lost both her parents.

Her 4 years older brother Jeremy, with whom she did not get along very well since then, turned out to be her biggest support in the end and gave her life a new meaning. With astonishment, little by little, she was discovering that she basically didn't know him until then and to her surprise, she was coming across qualities that she never noticed him having. Or didn't want to notice as a jolly teenager. He gave her a shoulder to cry on and then made her stand back on her own feet and continue her education. Because of the mutual tragedy, their relationship changed tremendously and to Elena, Jeremy became the closest person in the world.

Even though she did not know where she wants to work right after finishing her university degree, she knew two things for sure. She loved working with people. And secondly, she wanted to come home, come to Mystic Falls. Jeremy assumed that she is going to move back into their small family house, but Elena refused. She did not have to put much effort into convincing Jeremy and his pregnant wife Anne that they are going to need an extra room for themselves and that she would like to have one for herself. Because of that she rented an apartment with two rooms and a small porch near the city center and was ready to look for a job and start the next chapter of her life.

At that moment, the coincidence struck in.

Elena was just packing out boxes with newly bought kitchen equipment when Anne called her.

The town was preparing their yearly grand celebrations of founders and Mayer Lockwood decided to exploit the entertainment center's generous offer. Guiseppe Salvatore Corporation not only promised to actively take part in them but also agreed to provide a great financial gift for the town's events. And Anna Gilbert was the one from GSC responsible for coordinating them. But not her and nor her employer expected that her twins are about to sabotage the event and, from day to day, tie her to a bed for two months. Nothing serious, but Anne's doctor was uncompromising. No work. No stress. Rest.

Carol Lockwood was almost at the edge of hysteria and in GSC they have started to quickly look for a backup. And then, Anne unambiguously suggested Elena. At first, her idea was questioned by the GSC. Eventually, the hurriedly set up interview of the principal of the center with Elena had decided. To that greatly contributed her knowledge about the town and its history and, mainly, the very good relationship of Miss Gilbert as a member of the founder families with Mrs. Lockwood.

That was three years ago.

Since then, none of the participating regretted that decision. Elena often visited Anne, who gave her an insight into everything that her job consisted of, which, at that time, could be summarised into one sentence: Ensure that those, who did not want to run around the shops or sit at cafés and restaurants, are somehow entertained. Especially kids.

Elena took that job with great anticipation and excitement. In the beginning, she had to submit every little detail for approval and defend and explain everything. However, gradually the leadership found out that Elena is a very creative and imaginative person and while planning, she thinks even about the smallest details. The number of visitors to the center was thanks to her still rising and GSC's reputation in Mystic Falls started becoming very good. Because of her activity and absolute reliability, Elena then gained enough trust and got a free hand in organizing. It was a never-ending circle of new opportunities and little by little, she was adding new work to her original one. When she was offered a full-time job as an operating manager of the center, her decision was clear.

Elena was excited about the job. For her to be happy, she just needed to see that what she is doing has a meaning and an appreciative evaluation from the center's visitors was the biggest reward for her. Last month, she was entirely busy with preparation of several concurrent Christmas events with appropriate decoration as well.

And that very decoration was now the big, yet unsolved, problem… at least for Elena.

But nobody around her had a single idea why…

The first year Elena was responsible for the Christmas decoration was initially nothing surprising to the rest of the employees. Hundreds of light wires were taken out of the storage and curtains from shining little lights started to gradually cover the whole outside of the building. Elena had to make many phone calls and used all her convincing skills she had until she managed to find and transport the biggest Christmas fir-tree to Mystic Falls so that it could be solemnly placed into a prepared hole at an open space. Elena eventually managed to convince her good childhood friend Luke to go to the forest behind the city with the technology from his construction company and get her the most appropriate and the biggest tree of them all.

The aisles in the center were decorated with many silver, gold and red balls hanging from the ceiling. There were also fifteen smaller fir-trees and after a nice discussion with the principal Mrs. Jefferson, their decoration was entrusted to the hands of the children from individual classes of the Mystic Falls high school for the first time.

Not even Elena knew what is that going to unleash. The kids were arguing and competing with each other, whose tree is the most beautiful and tried to keep their plans and ideas a secret. Elena always had to smile when she walked through the aisles and heard a child emphatically asking their parents for assurance that their tree is definitely the most beautiful one out of all of them.

In the middle of the ground floor, there was a big free space, which was reserved primarily for the most important person during Christmas time, Santa, to whom will the kids come whisper their secret wishes. That was the place Elena put the most effort in. The floor was covered in artificial snow, in the stands, many snowy firs were placed and not even a traditional reindeer and carriage filled with presents were missing. And then…. bears.

When the decorations were almost over, Elena told Megan that she will also need some polar bears. She got a puzzled look from her assistant: "What? Why?"

"Why, why, we got Santa, reindeer, carriage, so why not also some polar bears? They belong to the north pole too. I think that the children will like them," she smiled at Megan brightly.

She did not explain any further, just insisted that she needs the bears. Lovely, soft-furred bears, actually maybe bear cubs. As big as possible.

The rest of the staff just shrugged and with no more remarks started looking for the biggest bear decorations. Eventually, it was Elena, who managed to make a deal with a company, which was cooperating with a film studio making TV shows for children and had three more than a meter high white bears in stock.

Only that this year it got a little held off…

Everything was fine and ran according to plan, until that yesterday's call from the company's owner, who completely ruined Elena's good mood.

X

 _Elena was just specifying the dates with Paul and Toby, who is going to wear the Santa costume when her phone rang. "Broderick bears" lit up on the display, so she picked up with a smile._

" _Hello Mr. Broderick," she greeted him happily, "have you already arrived at the back entrance? I will send someone to open the door for you."_

" _Ehm, yes, Miss Gilbert, actually no, we haven't arrived yet," Mr. Broderick got out of himself._

" _So when will you be here?"_

 _Broderick remained quiet and Elena started having a bad feeling that she is not going to like his answer. "Mr. Broderick…?"_

" _We.. in fact, we are not going to arrive today at all. I am truly sorry, but certain complications have occurred. We are just working on fixing them. We will be able to get you the bears tomorrow morning the earliest."_

" _Morning? What do you mean morning? What complications? We need to install them before the opening hour. Tomorrow morning is too late!"_

 _She heard a sigh on the phone. "The bears are not… prepared, but they will be by tomorrow morning, I promise."_

" _Prepared? How prepared… Do you mean that you have no one to load them up? But that we can solve, I will send somebody of ours with a car, that's the least of a problem."_

" _That is not going to help, you know. The problem is not that there is no one to transport them."_

" _Look, I really do need them today," said Elena steadily, "You know that we have agreed to this for the third year now! You don't have a car? Do you want more cash? What is it? What can I do for you so that you can arrive with the bears today?"_

" _No, no, it's not like this," his voice sounded desperate._

" _What is it then, I am sure we can solve it," blurted Elena._

 _There was silence for awhile and then just quiet: "Dots."_

 _Elena thought she didn't hear correctly. "Excuse me?"_

" _They have dots."_

" _Dots?"_

" _Yes."_

" _What do you mean by that…?" stuttered Elena. "That the bears… have… dots?"_

 _Paul and Toby, who stood beside her and waited for her to finish the call, stopped whispering and just stared at Elena._

" _Yes," confirmed Mr. Broderick._

" _How..," she couldn't continue further, so she rather got quiet instead._

" _Well, you know," he started explaining with an unfortunate tone, "one of my employees had taken their little daughter, Claire, to work, because he didn't have anyone to look after her. Adorable little girl. Ehm, well, yeah. He sat her at the table and let her paint with some colors to entertain her. The bears were prepared and ready to be transported, but John had run off for a sec to deal with one of our customers. And when he came back, the bears had drawn on…"_

" _Dots?" added Elena cheerlessly._

" _Yeah."_

" _Why…"_

" _That's what we've asked also," Broderick continued quickly, "Claire said that the bears seemed a little… sad to her. And to make them happier, she drew… the dots on them… colorful ones."_

 _Elena went speechless and had no idea, how to react now._

 _One part of her wanted to rage that they didn't keep the deadline and meet what they have promised. However, the other was on the edge of bursting with laughter. She could vividly imagine a little girl with a serious face, completely focused on painting on the white fur colorful dots, just so that the bears aren't sad..._

 _Apparently, Broderick instinctively understood what is going on and so he added: "But don't worry, we are working on it, everything will be removed, they'll be clean by the morning and I promise that we'll deliver them in time. They are gonna be there until eight. You can count on that."_

 _Considering that the other part was starting to win, Elena hurriedly ended the phone call so that she could preserve some dignity: "Okay, tomorrow at eight."_

Elena decided that it's time to get downstairs from her office to the ground floor, where is Broderick supposed to arrive every minute.

The center was still quiet, just from time to time an employee appeared around some of the shops who got up earlier for work. There was almost an hour and a half left till the opening, so she was just enjoying the calmness in the aisles. Even though she liked the rush of the day, she could also appreciate the quiet. When she was walking past the Christmas trees, she lightly touched their branches, so that the scent of fresh needles perfumes her fingers, That was another idea of hers - she vigorously refused the artificial ones, which had been used until then, and got them replaced by live spruces and fir trees.

With a smile on her face, she was perceiving how every one of them was truly different. It was noticeable that this year, all of the classes have tried to differentiate their trees from one another as much as possible. There was one on which prevailed handmade paper figurines and paper ornaments of all kinds. Other was fully decorated only with red and white colors, then there was one that had all the colors of the rainbow on it.

But her favorite tree was a smaller fir tree, which stood right in front of the entrance of a big toy store. It belonged to the youngest and was completely covered with unusual decorations. On each of the branches, there were red bows tied with dozens of precisely cut out white circles, which represented Christmas flasks and on each of them was drawn that child's Christmas wish.

She slowly walked towards space, which was Santa's kingdom. There she stopped and stared at the scene in front of her, smiling. She had to admit that this year, they have done an amazing job. In the middle of the white snow stood nicely carved table from light pine wood with a red cushion, which was this year made by one very skilled local joiner. Behind it and next to the table was an irregularly spaced dozen of firs and pines of different heights, covered in hundreds of small white snowflakes and lightly dusted snow. On the left was then a statue of a real sized Santa's reindeer with a bright red nose and behind it was placed a huge carriage full of packages of multiple sizes, all wrapped in varicolored Christmas themed paper.

Her sight wondered to the free space on the right nonetheless. That was the place reserved for the polar bears, which were favored by the kids from the first day at least as much as the reindeer Rudolf.

Elena slightly smiled and a dreamy expression appeared on her face. She knew that her stubbornness when it came to the Christmas bears was known in the center and it was clear that not everybody understood her because she never explained.

The real reason was hidden in her heart and she was not about to let it go.

X

 _A slender leg slid into a slipper, which looked like a fluffy pink ball more than anything, and a little girl was ready to explore. The house was oddly quiet, as it usually was in the morning. It smelled of Christmas treats she baked with her mom the day before and of fresh needles. Her parents were still asleep when she started quietly descending from the stairs to the kitchen. Suddenly, she stopped when she heard fast ringing. She smiled, pleased, quickly ran down the few stairs that were left and aimed straight at the living room. The ringing grew louder._

 _Little Elena headed to the huge chair, which stood in front of the window to the garden. The blinds were already stretched and outside was freshly fallen snow on the ground._

" _Granny!" yelled Elena from amazement. "Snow, it snowed during the night!"_

 _Short grey haired women put knitting needles aside, smiled knowingly and kept looking at her only seven years old granddaughter with affection while she was jumping in front of the window from joy._

" _Granny, will we go outside? Please..!" begged the little girl and hugged her granda vigorously._

" _Of course we will. But a little later. Look, I've almost finished this for you,..." she answered and raised the knitting needles on which was still a little light blue soft hat still attached._

" _Will it be just one color? Can there be a picture on it?"_

" _That's up to you. What would you like?"_

 _Little rolls created on Elena's forehead from how she tried to think it through. "Alice has a hat with a kitten on it. Tracy has two little reindeer. Ben has a dog and Vicky an orange tiger. But Ben says it's nonsense. That she can't have a tiger when they don't live here. He wanted her to throw it away and Vicky started crying because of it. Ben is mean, all the kids need to listen to him."_

" _And you would like a picture of an animal too?"_

" _Yes, could you make there a polar bear?" asked Elena hopefully, but then she grew sad and added: "Actually no, I can't have a polar bear on my hat."_

" _And why not?" her grandma asked curiously._

" _Because polar bears don't live here either. Just like tigers. You haven't seen any in the garden, have you?"_

" _You would like to have polar bears in the garden?"_

" _That would be amazing!" yelled Elena enthusiastically and climbed on her grandma's lap. "I like to small white bears the most! We would play catch-up, hide and seek,..."_

" _And you think you would find them in the snow? They're all white…" said grandma while laughing._

 _Elena shook her head and her brown curls flew in all direction. "Of course I would find them! Their noses and eyes are black!" she claimed confidently. But then she shrugged and quietly said: "But I don't want to end up like Vicki, I don't want to cry because we don't have polar bears in our garden."_

" _You know what? I will show you a magic trick then."_

" _What magic trick? You can do magic?" Elena breathed out, astonished._

" _I can, but so do you."_

" _I can't."_

" _Yes, you can, you'll see. Lean against me comfortably and close your eyes."_

 _Elena cuddled closer to her grandma and closed her eyes as she felt soft arms around her._

" _You see our garden…"_

" _I don't. My eyes are closed. Should I open them?"_

" _Wait, keep them shut and just imagine the garden in your head."_

" _But I can't do that."_

" _So try again. Try it the same way as you would if you'd think about what you did tomorrow. Can you see it?"_

" _I... do, but there is no snow in it. I just remembered how I played outside with dolls with Vicki."_

" _That's right. Keep your eyes closed. Now try to imagine that there is no grass, but snow instead. There is not Vicki and dolls, but there are little bears. Aren't they there?" asked the grandma and watched Elena's face carefully._

" _Yes, they are! Three of them! We really do have polar bears in our garden!" Elena giggled and opened her eyes widely. "How is that possible?"_

 _Grandma stroked her granddaughter's head. "Because you don't have to only see what you've experienced. When you close your eyes, any of your wishes may come true if you just try a little."_

" _Even polar bears?"_

" _Even polar bears," grandma nodded. "You know, you shouldn't always follow what other kids say. Just do, what they want you to do. You are Elena Gilbert, do and say whatever you believe in. Not what some Ben does."_

 _Little Elena thought for awhile and then declared confidently: "I want three white polar bears on my hat. And one has to have his ear bent."_

 _Grandma smiled at her widely. "Of course I can make one's ear bent."_

" _I think that this light blue color will now be my favorite," said Elena contentedly._

 _For years she was then wearing this hat, which quickly became her most favored piece of winter clothing. She never forgot the time she watched her grandma create three little white figures, which looked just like she wished they would. Not even the time Ben tried to convince her to throw it away and she just shook her head, because, for her, the bears were real. The time of sweet victory she felt when Ben turned around and walked away. As the days went on, the hat became Elena's talisman._

 _At least until she lost it somewhere._

 _She searched through all her stuff, the whole house, the dressing room at school, asked her friends, if she did not leave it somewhere, but never found it. The hat literally vanished._

 _But her grandma's words… those she kept in mind ever since._

X

Elena flinched when the ringing of her phone disrupted her from the memories.

"We are here, right at the back entrance," announced Broderick.

As she rushed to let him in, her grandma's words were still lingering in the back of her mind. She sighed, relieved.

Everything is going to be fine again.

X

On the other side of the town, you could hear children's screams and stomps on the stairs in the whole Salvatore boarding house.

"Uncle, uncle, get up," screamed the youngest Salvatore and stormed into Damon's room.

Damon turned on his back and just as he managed to open both his eyes, a blonde shaggy tornado jumped on his bed and landed right on him.

"Uh, heya, slow down a little Sarah, alright?" he growled, but the girl looked like she didn't even notice it. She kept on jumping on the bed and repeating: "Get up, get up, we need to go to Santa! You promised me! You promised!"

Damon opened his eyes fully and started mentally preparing himself for what was coming. He loved his little niece, but he would be really glad if she inherited a little less temperament from her mother Caroline, especially now.

He never understood, how Caroline could have gotten together with his quiet and refined brother Stefan, considering that they are complete opposites. Caroline was always all over the place and maybe that was one of the reasons why she, without a doubt, agreed to move to New York with Stefan, because her hometown was too small for her extensive intentions with her catering company. However, Damon has never seen his brother as happy as he is by Caroline's side. They got married after a year of being together and after two more Sarah was born. Eventually, Damon had to admit that his sister-in-law was the best thing that could have happened to Stefan.

If everything went according to plan, Sarah would already be at the boarding house with her parents, for Damon, the GSC inspection would be over and he'd be heading back to New York.

But Stefan and Caroline got stuck for two days at the airport in Paris, just because he was convinced she needs to experience the French Christmas atmosphere. And Caroline could not have come up with anything better than to drive Sarah to stay with her grandma Liz in Mystic Falls.

The weather in Europe, however, changed all their plans. Liz had to go back to work and Sarah couldn't spend all her days in the sheriff's office. And so it was left for Damon, who was coincidentally in town, to play the role of a good uncle and take care of his, for now, only niece.

Sarah finally calmed down and let Damon at least sit. She glared at him with her big blue eyes and her face expression became exactly like the one of Caroline's when she impatiently waits for people to do exactly what she asked them to.

Damon resignedly sighed: "Of course we will go to Santa, I promised you and I always keep my word, you know that, right?"

The girl smiled happily. "And will there be Rudolf too? Grandma Liz told me he will be there."

Well, I sincerely hope that she is right, Damon thought.

"And will you buy me a teddy bear?"

X

Elena didn't rest since the morning. After the opening, the center quickly filled with people and with those, problems started showing up. Fortunately, only small ones for now, which she had to operatively start to solve. In the afternoon, she expected the first meeting with one of the owners, who arrived from New York. Tyler, the current center's boss and Carol Lockwood's son, asked her to join them too, as she became the new operating manager.

As she rushed to the café on the top floor, she noticed the gathering of children around Santa grows bigger and bigger. She smiled when she realized that not all of their attention goes only to Toby in the Santa's costume, but many of the children and parents tried to take pictures with the reindeers and polar bears too. Her heart warmed up like it usually did when she saw people appreciating her ideas.

She probably kept appreciating them for longer than she should have. Her body collided with a fixed obstacle and the phone that she was clutching in her hand flew to the ground. Before she got her bearings, she lost balance, her heel slipped and she started falling. Suddenly, she felt someone's hands catching her and stopping her fall.

She breathed out with relief and gratefully glared up to face her savior. She saw an amused face of a sympathetic black haired man with fascinating eyes looking at her from above. Before she could realize what it is their color reminds her, the man helped her stand up. He grinned at her, smiling and ironically noted: "I am used to women falling to my feet, but that it will happen right after entering this shipping center. That I did not expect."

Before Elena could have come up with a smart response, little girl with blond braids and a coat in her arms grabbed the man by his sleeve, dragging him away. "C'mon, we need to find Santa, let's go."

He handed Elena her phone and then let the girl pull him in the demanded direction.

X

Before she could have gotten to the restaurant, the situation, because of which she was called, was fortunately solved. And surprisingly, anything else that would require her attention did not come up. Therefore, Elena decided that it is time to come back downstairs and take a closer look at what was happening in Santa's kingdom. She would have never admitted it out loud but was sort of hoping that she will see him there again. At least she thought so based on what she heard from his daughter. She saw him only for a couple of seconds and even that was in a situation that was obviously embarrassing and not flattering at all. And her not saying a word in return did not help it whatsoever. Despite that, she couldn't get him out of her mind.

Elena was aware of the fact that it has been a long time ago that a man caught her attention this much. Actually, it was back in the last year of school. She met Liam thanks to her roommate, April, and when they started dating after a while, she was convinced that their life together has an amazing future. Unfortunately, it came across that she was the only one thinking that. After her return to Mystic Falls, she only had work on her mind and did not consider another relationship ever since. Not that there would not be any offers, that would be a lie. It was just that she did not come across anyone worth her reducing her workload. The center was open from early morning until night during the week and during weekends, if Elena wasn't there, she was definitely at Carol Lockwood's, where she was negotiating the details about the cooperation between GSC and the town.

She slowly walked by the green spruces with white snowflakes all over them and carefully watched the crown of people around her, if she will get lucky and see him. Surely, he was one of the many fathers convinced by their little daughters that the most important thing of the day is meeting Santa. However, it was the color of his eyes that haunted her and forced her to try to talk to him again.

X

Damon tried to keep pace with her, but Sarah was, just as her mother, like an unguided missile. He never understood, how does she store all the energy in her little body. At that moment, he was already finished with the absolutely necessary visit of the toy store, where Sarah got him to buy her the biggest plush cat they had. He tried to explain to her that it will be better to buy it right before they leave the center, but that was a losing battle.

"We can't leave her here! What if someone else buys her?" protested Sarah.

"Look," Damon tried to explain, "the cat is really, really big. We will have to carry it around the whole time. This big of a cat is going to be very heavy too, you'll not be even able to."

"That's okay, you can carry it," she smiled widely and trustfully looked at him. "You're strong."

So Damon tried it the other way: "What if you'd want me to carry you instead? Or help you climb on Santa's lap? My hands will be full."

"I don't mind, I'll figure it out. They only have one left that is big and orange…" she tried convincing him again while tearing up a little.

"Seriously, it's too big, don't worry, no one is going to buy it. It will wait right here for you," tried Damon once more.

"That's not true! Because it is so big, somebody might buy it! Just like me!" insisted Sarah.

Damon just had nothing to argue with against that children logic, so he just obediently turned around to go buy that big orange cat for her. Then they headed to see Santa.

X

Elena wandered through the crowd disappointed while the children warbled around her. She stopped for awhile and, amused, she watched how one boy in a bright green sweater climbed on top of Toby's - Santa's - lap, tried to grab him by his beard and pull him closer. She watched his hand fling out to catch the little hand before the boy could bereave his white fluffy vaunt and he would appear in front of all the kids completely without a beard. She just hurriedly checked the situation near the reindeer and moved further, hoping to have more luck there.

Suddenly, she froze and stared stiffly in front of her.

It seemed like the whole world around her disappeared and sounds fell silent. Elena's stare was fixed at one and only place and everything else ceased to exist.

That's not possible, it can't be…

Elena quickly closed her eyes, but when she opened them again, it was still there. She still saw it.

Slowly and hesitantly, she stepped closer. She didn't perceive the rush around her, nor the kid who almost ran into her accidentally. Suspiciously, she reached toward it with her hand, as if she was afraid that it's going to disappear with the slightest touch.

But that didn't happen. It still lied there.

On a pile of coats and jackets of different styles and colors, many scarfs and hats, right at the top of the bench, which the children used to put aside their clothes before going to see Santa.

Elena's hand softly touched the light blue fabric and gently stroked the material. She ran her fingers over the now a little worn out white figures to eventually stop at her favorite one.

" _I want three white polar bears on my hat. And one has to have his ear bent."_

Just like she remembered it…

Without being fully aware of what she was doing, she raised the little hat and pressed it tightly to her chest. She felt her heart beating and her head was spinning a little. Her brain couldn't figure out how is it possible. How could it appear so many years later, right here and now, but she did not even care to understand. Her phone started ringing in her pocket, but she ignored it. He feet started moving by themselves and she kept moving faster, bringing her newly found treasure with her without thinking twice about what she was actually doing.

Suddenly, she heard heavy steps behind her. A strong arm grabbed her and stopped her with one pull.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Aren't you ashamed?" a mad voice said loudly behind her.

Elena finally woke up from her daze and then she started fully realizing, what situation she had gotten herself into.

"Uncle, that lady stole my hat!" she heard a high pitched voice from behind him.

Elena felt dizzy and started to sweat. For the first time, she looked at the person who stopped her so vigorously. When she was looking for him, she didn't t even think about meeting in such, for her, humiliating situation. He looked unbelievably angry, but beautiful at the same time. The color of his eyes was the same as that of the hat Elena was still holding tightly, but this time, he didn't look at her with amusement, but with rage instead.

Distantly, however oddly relieved, she noticed the girl did not call him dad, but an uncle. She was trying to think of an excuse, but she was so lost in his eyes that the only thing she was capable of, was to open her mouth, but not a single sound came out.

Damon's pupils widened as he realized who he was holding.

If there wasn't impatient Sarah beside him and the circumstances were different, he would definitely try to see her again after catching her earlier in the day. That woman attracted him from the very first moment, without him being able to explain why. Maybe it was because of her warm brown eyes or the diffident look on her face, which seemed to him unbelievably gentle and adorable.

Damon shook his head and his features stiffened. She was simply a thief and is not worthy of any sympathies, which he might feel toward her. He grabbed the hat and tried to take it from her, but she didn't let go. He tried pulling stronger, but no. With a corner of his eye, he saw a member of the staff with a name tag on their shirt and came to the conclusion that maybe it will be better to choose a different solution. He let go of the hat and waved at the man.

"Hey! Could you come here please for a sec?"

Matthew glared at the man standing next to Elena, but before he could have said anything, Damon continued:

"I need to talk to someone, who's in charge of things here."

"Excuse me?" Matt looked confused.

Elena was quiet.

Damon rolled his eyes and repeated: "I would like you to go get me someone, who is the manager here. I want to know their name and where to find them."

"Ehm," Matt cleared his throat and shifted from foot to foot.

"What's that person's name?" Damon started becoming impatient and noticed the slight look, which the man directed at this thief beside him.

"Gilbert, Elena Gilbert," Matt answered eventually and started thinking about what is actually happening right now.

"Well, finally," commented Damon ironically. "And where is she?"

For a while, Matt had no idea how to react, so he just stuttered: "Well.. well, here."

Damon stopped at the answer and for a second he thought that this man is making fun of him. Hesitantly, he sat the orange cat on the floor, while menacingly staring at Elena, and then turned to Sarah: "Look after it carefully, so that no one steals it from you."

Elena felt her face turning red.

"So once more," Damon started again when he turned back to Matt.

At that moment, Elena decided that it would be wise to stop this conversation and set Matt free. She smiled at him lightly and said: "Thank you, Matt, you can go, I'll handle this."

Damon had no idea what was happening and just blankly stared at Matt, who instantly listened to this woman, turned around and walked away.

Elena took a deep breath to calm down. She turned to Damon and looked into his eyes. "I think I should introduce myself. I'm… Elena Gilbert, center's operating manager."

Damon stared at her at first, before he fully realized what she was saying. And who she is.

"And I would like to apologize. And explain," Elena added and registered many emotions through his face she couldn't completely identify. She had an unpleasant suspicion when eventually, he grinned with confidence.

With a feeling of ultimate satisfaction, Damon stepped closer to her. "I think I should introduce myself, too," he said calmly and reached out to shake her hand. "Damon Salvatore, one of the center's owners. I think we have a meeting scheduled for the afternoon."

Elena froze and her eyes widened.

"And this is ours." Smoothly, he leaned toward her and took the hat from Elena's hands. Then the cat from the ground.

"We're going home, Sarah. We're done here."

X

For long after that, Elena just stood there, blankly staring in front of her.

This was a disaster.

Not only she was considered a thief, but it was by one of the owners. She couldn't have imagined going to the meeting in the afternoon. Many scenarios were playing in her head about what could happen, but not even one of them had a good ending.

She had to do something.

Her phone started ringing again. Elena picked up without hesitation.

"Yes..?"

"Well, it was about time," Tyler spoke up. "What do you have the phone for, when you don't use it. Stop by my office, I need to talk to you about some stuff."

Elena slowly started heading toward Tyler's office. She was sure that Damon Salvatore didn't manage to talk to him yet because he told Sarah they were going home. And it was doubtful that he would bother calling him. He'll probably wait until the afternoon to see how she will react. She was positive he is looking forward to that.

The whole situation was a combination of all unbelievably unfortunate coincidences and Elena kept constantly thinking about how to fix it. Eventually, she came to the only possible conclusion that she needs to see Damon once more. Alone and, preferably, before the meeting. And hope that he will understand.

She quickly told Megan that an extraordinary situation came up and she will be out of reach until four o'clock. And that whatever happens, she will have to take care of it on her own.

At first, Tyler was utterly confused by what she was asking from him. But eventually, he agreed to free her for a couple of hours and only because of their friendship, he will keep his questions for later. Elena was walking out of his office with new hope and a small paper in her hand that had the address of the Salvatore boarding house.

X

Damon was just finishing the clean up after lunch in the kitchen. Sarah was playing upstairs with her new huge toy when he closed the washing machine behind the last dirty plate.

He loved to cook, it was his passion that he most certainly inherited from his Italian ancestors. He considered it an amazing relaxation after a long day at work, which was an everyday tax for becoming a partner of, initially only his father's, company seven years ago. Guiseppe Salvatore Corporation was a big company with enormous property in the form of many shopping and entertainment centers all around the States and their father was more than happy that both of his sons are voluntarily willing to join his business.

Damon almost didn't remember his hometown. He was less than four when they moved to New York, where his father newly built the GSC headquarters. He barely remembered visiting Mystic Falls with his mother and Stefan sometime around ten years ago because of a deal they had to make with some of the locals about the caring of the house. The Salvatore boarding house was out of its originally intended service for a long time, but their father was still refusing to sell it.

Damon like that house. Although he was raised in eventful and always busy New York, paradoxically, he still could have imagined, to his mother's surprise, living there someday. The house had an interesting atmosphere that was always calming him down.

The kitchen's furniture was in a quite old state, however, everything was still working. But it was completely different to the one he had in his apartment in New York, where he was mainly preparing food for his female guests, which were usually very complicated and exotic meals.

Regarding this, it was easier with Sarah. She wasn't complicated and would eat almost anything, to the point he was sometimes surprised. Damon vaguely remembered how he, when he was younger, was extremely picky. Maybe that was the origin of his relationship with culinary art.

In his thoughts, he went back to Elena. That woman surprised him. What he witnessed was so far from the expression he got of her during their first encounter. For a second he imagined what it would be like to cook for her. Does she like fish? Does she like white or red? But his brain was telling him this is not a woman to think about this way, even though his heart thought different.

He had two hours left before he has to take Sarah to Liz and go back to GSC. He was about to start making his coffee when he heard the door ring. He stopped for a second when he realized he is not expecting any guests. The only person he could think of was Liz, but she would definitely call him beforehand.

He lightly shrugged and walked to the door.

X

Elena was nervously stepping in front of the door of a beautifully built house. She lived in Mystic Falls her whole life, but, for some reason, she was never there. Actually, it wasn't that surprising since the boarding house was located a little aside from the town and the road that lead to him, also ended there. Supposedly, the Salvatore family used it only as their vacation house, if they ever came around.

From Tyler, Elena knew that the only person she is going to find there will be Damon. And Sarah, she almost forgot about her.

She was hoping she will get a chance to talk to him for a little while. She reached into her pocket and searched for the photo she earlier went home for. She gathered all her courage, lifted her arm and rang the bell.

X

Damon opened the door and the smile he had initially prepared for the visitor disappeared.

Elena stood on the porch and at first, she looked like she would rather be anywhere else but here. Her light brown coat was covered with snowflakes and her hair was spread on her shoulders, creating a velvet collar around her head. She looked beautiful.

He erased those thoughts and tried to look for a feeling of guilt on her face, but couldn't see it.

He cleared his throat, leaned against the side of the door and said: "Who do I owe this pleasant visit? Can't wait for the afternoon hours?" he added ironically and kept staring at her.

Elena looked down, reached into the pocket of her coat. She then handed him the little piece of paper.

Damon stopped because such reaction he did not expect. He reached out with his hand and grabbed something that looked like a photograph.

"Take a look at this, please," she said quietly while watching him. Light snowflakes were falling from the sky and settling in her hair.

Damon slowly turned the photo toward him and looked at it carefully. In the picture, there was a grey-haired old woman and around the shoulders, she was hugging a small girl with brown braids. She had big eyes and a big smile on her face. One of her front teeth was missing. The girl was about six or seven, but her features were the same as those of the woman standing in front of him.

His eyes, however, stopped at the hat that was covering that girl's hair. When he realized what he was looking at, he seemed astonished.

"My grandma knitted it for me when I was seven," Elena continued quietly. "When I was about twelve I lost it and couldn't find it until today. I know that it's stupid, but that hat…" she paused, "means a lot to me."

Damon didn't know how to respond. That was definitely not what he expected. He raised his eyes from the photo to look at Elena. He started to realize that maybe he created his judgment too fast and decided that he wants to know more about the woman standing on his porch.

He stepped back to make room in the door and smiled at her softly.

"Before you came, I was about to make myself some coffee. Would you wanna come inside?"

The smile she gave him was worth all the beauty in the world. He never saw anything more stunning.

Eventually, the afternoon's meeting went well and Elena just regretted that Damon couldn't have stayed for longer.

Before that, Elena spent almost two hours at the Salvatore boarding house and found out that Damon is unbelievably funny and a very charming man, unlike any she had met before. After the initial embarrassment before she told him the whole story, the atmosphere between them changed completely. Elena couldn't remember the last time she felt this comfortable. Obviously, she wouldn't mind seeing him more often.

In this end, she was leaving satisfied. The only thing ruining that a little was the fact that the hat was not lying on the passenger's seat.

She turned the last lights in the hallway off and said goodbye to the security guys. It was quite a busy and hectic day and Elena was looking forward to sitting down on her sofa with a plate of Christmas treats, watching some movie. She locked the back door and walked over to her parked car.

She stopped with surprise.

Next to her small Ford stood a big black SUV and next to it Damon, leaning against a shining lamp. He was holding a present wrapped in Christmas themed wrapping paper and decorated with a big white bow.

Elena's heart skipped a beat when she saw him and slowly, she proceeded to walk towards him.

"Are you waiting for someone?" She asked with sparkles in her eyes.

Damon unexpectedly moved closed and she felt a soft kiss on her cheek. He placed a small box in her hands.

"Merry Christmas, Elena," he said softly.

Elena looked at him, amazed.

"C'mon," he encouraged her, "look inside."

With an impatient look on her face, Elena began unpacking the present and, in the back of her mind, she was hoping for it to be exactly what she thinks it's going to be. When she saw the blue fabric, she had to control herself not to jump on him. She hugged him tightly instead.

"How did you convince Sarah to give it to you? This is the most wonderful gift I have received in a long time," Elena managed to get out of herself and looked at Damon with tears of happiness in her eyes.

"Well, I had to bribe her a little. There is one huge stuffed animal less in the toy store," laughed Damon. "And by the way, I asked Liz, where Sarah got that hat. Would you believe me if I told you she bought it this spring at one charity bazaar for a couple bucks?"

Elena laughed out loud.

"If I were you I wouldn't laugh this much," noted Damon and Elena looked at him a little confused.

He grabbed her by the waist and looked her in the eyes. "You know, it's gonna cost you something. A favor this big is not for free…" he continued and watched as her face was getting serious.

"And what would that be?" She asked, suspiciously.

"A dinner. Tonight. A lunch. Tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that,.." he kept listing, amused, with a grin on his face.

Hope appeared in Elena's eyes when she dared to ask him: "I thought you are going back to New York tomorrow."

"Well, you know, I thought that I could stay here for a bit. At least I hope I'll have a reason to. What do you think?" asked Damon and Elena registered a subtle undertone of insecurity.

She smiled at him brightly and gave him a soft kiss. "I think it is the best plan you could have come up with."

x

 _Recently, one of my favorite authors asked me why I do not write my own stories. My answer was simple: my bad English. Then I started thinking about it. Christmas is coming. All year long, I receive gifts in the form of wonderful stories._

 _This is my gift to you, scarlett2112, siberia21, Mariah April May, deepwater1978, Salvatoreboys4ever, TheLittle MissVixen, JustiniaKorax, Zaewrites, Foreverfirstloves and all others…_

 _Thank you for your efforts, creativity, amazing ideas, and gracious access to strange English for my reviews and news. And my daughter, thank you for translating this story into English._

 _Merry Christmas!_


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